Mazda 5

Mazda thinks the youth market comes in a box.

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You won't be seeing any television ads promoting the new Mazda 5 six-seater people mover. Instead, the company is pursuing a careful marketing initiative for this product, aiming squarely at the active-lifestyle youth segment in a co-branding program with sportswear titan Quiksilver.

Mazda reasons that Quiksilver has the credentials necessary to influence a youth market that won't be told what to buy unless told by opinion leaders it can trust. And who more trustworthy than the purveyors of high-price leisurewear? So this inexpensive six-seater is being introduced in relatively small numbers with modest print and Internet publicity alongside appearances at key outdoor events. Two Mazda 5s have been-how should we say?- decorated by Quiksilver designers and are displayed at various board-sport contests.

Available as a well-equipped Sport version or a Touring model (which adds automatic climate control, front fog lamps, a rear spoiler, side skirts, an in-dash six-CD changer, and a power sunroof), the Mazda 5 almost defies description. Somewhat similar to a Toyota Corolla Matrix in appearance, it is based on the Mazda 3 platform and powered by that car's 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine.

Behind two conventional front doors are two sliding rear doors (with 27.5-inch apertures) providing access to the center and rear rows of seat pairs. Although these lightweight sliders are very minivanlike, Mazda strenuously avoids that terminally uncool label.

Let's accept that the resemblance to a minivan has as much to do with utility as category. There are some well-thought-out aspects to the car. Both the center- and rear-seat rows fold forward to form a large flat load surface, and all seats fold for flexible loading arrangements. Dunno why, but surfboards come to mind.

There are cup holders aplenty and even a karakuri storage box in the base of the right-hand center seat for small items such as-it says here-toys. Put that thought out of your mind. In every other way, the Mazda 5 drives and handles like the sporty Mazda 3 on which it's based. That, more than anything else, supports the 5's nonminivan pretensions.